It was reported last week that a Russian agriculture ministry official fears a 'global scandal' from pitches used in the World Cup being attacked by swarms of locusts.

Could scenes like this plague the World Cup?!

Games will be played at 12 stadiums in 11 cities this summer.

The Guardian reported that Pyotr Chekmarev, head of the agriculture ministry’s crop farming department, said the pitches could be targeted by locusts during the summer months.

“One way or another, we have learnt how to deal with locusts, but how do we not fall into a global scandal with locusts this year?” he is quoted as saying at an agricultural event in Moscow last Wednesday.

“The whole world is coming here. Football fields are green. Locusts love it where there is lots of green. How would they not come to the place where football is being played?“

Chekmarev said around a million hectares of land in southern Russia was infested with locusts, including around the World Cup host city of Volgograd.